After last weekends disappointing home defeat at the hands of Plymouth we take on Port Vale at Vale Park tomorrow as we aim to bounce back and take all three points as we look to close the gap between ourselves and the league leaders.
Dario will hand a starting place to Clayton Ince, who was rested for the midweek win at Mansfield and centre back Richard ‘headoorman’ Walker and Neil Sorvel will also start after missing last Saturday’s shock defeat.
Dario has the luxury of near full strength squad as we aim to inflict a second defeat over the Vale this season, after our 2-0 triumph in the league cup back in September. Rodney Jack was the hero that night and the St Vincent born forward will be looking to add to his goal in midweek as we aim to make amends for last weekend’s blip.
The Vale have been in strange form so far this season, after a disastrous start they won 5 consecutive games but have lost their momentum of late. They have found a rare young talent in forward Billy Paynter and the Vale will be out to gain revenge for the league cup defeat.
We make the short journey to Vale Park after Tuesday’s comprehensive victory at Mansfield in the LDV Vans first round tie. A Rob Hulse hat-trick and fourth from Rodney Jack resulted in the Alex running out comfortable winners and Dario will be hoping that the boys have gained the ‘winning mentality’ which he desires. Brian Horton will have to decide whether to hand experienced striker Brett Angel a starting role, but the more likely striking partnership is Bridge-Wilkinson and McPhee. Both young forwards are highly rated but have failed to find their scoring touch so far this season and the responsibility of ensuring that their goalscoring doesn’t start tomorrow will be down to Steve Foster and Richard Walker. The young defensive duo have been highly impressive since Walker broke into the side at Huddersfield back in September. Walker missed last Saturday’s defeat to Plymouth but returned for the trip to Field Mill and will start the game tomorrow, alongside former central defensive partner in the academy side, Foster.
The game will be competitive and both sides will be eager to gain maximum points. Vale drew 1-1 at Brentford last weekend and ran out 3-1 winners over third division Hull City on Tuesday night and will be aiming to mount a serious play-off challenge as the season progresses.
I predict that the game will be very tight in the early exchanges with neither side wanting to concede possessional dominance. However, the recent form of Kenny Lunt and former Vale captain Dave Brammer will result in the Vale being over-run and I predict a solo strike from Rodney Jack sending us into the break 1-0 up. Vale will therefore have to attack the Alex which will result in gaps in their defence, it will then be a question of whether we can capitalise. Jack proved that he can be the thorn in the Vale’s side and his performance will be crucial tomorrow. If he can recapture the form he showed in the league cup game and with Rob Hulse in blistering form, we are well capable of returning to Cheshire with all three points…